Commission roundup: Silver Springs letter, $100K for Power Plant and more

Tuesday

Dec 18, 2012 at 4:29 PMDec 18, 2012 at 6:39 PM

The Marion County Commission on Tuesday followed up last week's public meeting on Silver Springs by asking state environmental regulators to think broader than the attraction itself.

By Bill ThompsonStaff writer

The Marion County Commission on Tuesday promised a handful of residents seeking a new SunTran bus stop west of Interstate 75 that they would review the idea.

But before Tuesday’s meeting was over, the board signaled that such a stop was likely not feasible because there was no funding to expand public transportation that far from the hub of Ocala.

Ocala resident Mike McGriff lobbied the commission to locate a bus stop near U.S. 27 and Northwest 60th Avenue. The only option for residents who don’t drive, or who lack their own cars, is to pay exorbitant taxi fees to travel, he said.

“What can we do?” McGriff told the commission, noting he had gathered more than 600 signatures on a petition favoring the idea.

“They’re Marion County residents, too, and ... they feel like they’re left out once you pass I-75 west.”

Chairwoman Kathy Bryant answered that the board would raise the issue with the Ocala-Marion County Transportation Planning Organization, or TPO, which is comprised of the County Commission, the Ocala City Council and mayor and one elected official each from Belleview and Dunnellon.

As the meeting wrapped up, though, some commissioners suggested that discussion would be unproductive — especially after another audience member pointed out that SunTran riders pay about 15 percent of the system’s operating costs and should contribute more.

According to Virgina Miller, spokeswoman for the American Public Transporttion Association, fees charged to riders of public bus systems cover about 26 percent of the operating costs.

“I think we’re all well aware of the costs of expanding SunTran ... and I can assure you this commission is not going to spend money on something that’s just a ‘feel-good.’ There will be a complete analysis done, and it will have to make sense,” Bryant said.

Commissioner Carl Zalak allowed that there were some “needs” in public transportation, but he also suggested that the TPO had already conducted that analysis, and the answer was known.

“The cost, quite honestly, was overwhelming to add any new services, to add any new buses, to add any new routes,” Zalak said.

“It would be a real burden on Marion County or the city of Ocala at this point to add any more public transportation routes.”

Currently, SunTran’s western routes range as far as the College of Central Florida and Paddock Mall. The service does shuttle between Ocala and Silver Springs Shores.

In other action on Tuesday, the board followed up last week’s public meeting on Silver Springs by asking state environmental regulators to think broader than the attraction itself.

At the recommendation of Commissioner Stan McClain, the board’s point man on Silver Springs, the commission unanimously approved a letter that asks the Department of Environmental Protection to find a way to link all of the public lands around the renowned waterway — if Palace Entertainment, the amusement park operator that has leased the site since 2002, can be convinced to leave.

“While the meeting focused on the State Park’s management of the Attraction, Marion County recognizes an opportunity to leverage all public lands surrounding Silver Springs,” the letter said.

“These lands encompass hundreds of thousands of acres of native forest, as well as miles of pristine waterways and aquatic trails, managed by federal, state and local governments. Marion County’s strategic vision is for a regional comprehensive approach that encourages connectivity of this larger landscape beyond the boundaries of the Attraction and the Silver River State Park.”

“All we’re asking is that they think about the bigger picture here,” McClain explained to the board. “We’re upwards of some 400,000 acres of Marion County that’s owned by federal, state, or local government in some form, and there’s no conversation between any of the owners.”

DEP officials came to Ocala last week to gauge public support for incorporating Silver Springs into the adjacent state park.

County commissioners also unanimously decided to give another $100,000 to the Power Plant, the small business incubator program managed by the Ocala-Marion County Chamber and Economic Partnership.

The board approved the grant after being assured by staff that the agency had met the contractual incentives spelled out in a December 2011 deal for an initial $100,000.

Kevin Reed, manager of the Power Plant, said the county’s first contribution had helped launch 14 new small businesses that employ 60 people. The agency had already reached capacity and was seeking to expand, Reed added.

The County Commission also settled a worker’s compensation case with a former paramedic.

Teresa Fletcher was injured on Christmas Day 2003, according to court records. She was traveling in an ambulance, performing CPR on a patient, when the driver slammed on the brakes, launching Fletcher into a J-hook mounted on the vehicle’s wall. The hook went into her forehead.

According to a memo from Assistant County Attorney Dana Taylor, the county’s cost for pursuing the case further could have exceeded $1.2 million. Fletcher left the Fire Department in October.

The board agreed to take over the maintenance of Shocker Park, the softball complex in southeast Ocala.

The deal takes effect Jan. 1, and the county expects to spend $128,807 next year to maintain the facility — $15,000 of which will be offset in a payment from Ocala Girls Softball, the group that previously maintained it.

The arrangement mirrors maintenance contracts the county approved for the Ocala Rotary Sportsplex in 2006 and the Belleview Sportsplex in 2009.

Finally, county commissioners honored the Vanguard High School girls volleyball team, which captured it first state championship last month.